Technological Threat

Author(s):  
Robert B. Archibald

This chapter explores the rapid growth of online education. It evaluates the likelihood that distance learning will break the rise in college cost and disrupt the traditional model of campus-based programming. There are many ways that the rapid entrepreneurial development of digital learning can change how higher education is provided, and there are many ways that online education may work in the labor market of the future. Although digital techniques will continue to improve and develop, this chapter does not forecast an upheaval in the way higher education is delivered to students in the traditional age range of eighteen to twenty-four. Online education will continue to expand the opportunities for older and returning students, while traditional campus-based programming will continue to offer the best alternative for younger first-time students.

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-73
Author(s):  
Yu. M. Tsygalov

The forced work of Russian universities remotely in the context of the pandemic (COVID-19) has generated a lot of discussion about the benefits of the new form of education. The first results were summed up and reports were presented, the materials of which showed that the main goal of online education — the prevention of the spread of infection, - has been achieved. Against this background, proposals and publications have appeared substantiating the effectiveness of the massive introduction of distance learning in Russia, including in higher education. However, the assessment of such training by the population and students in publications and in social networks was predominantly negative and showed that the number of emerging problems exceeds the possible benefits of the new educational technology. Based on the analysis of the materials of publications and personal experience of teaching online, the potential benefits and problems of distance learning in higher education in Russia are considered. It is proposed to consider the effects separately for the suppliers of new technology (government, universities) and consumers (students, teachers, society). It is substantiated that the massive introduction of online education allows not only to reduce the negative consequences of epidemics, but also to reduce budgetary funding for universities, optimize the age composition of teachers, and reduce the cost of maintaining educational buildings. However, there will be a leveling / averaging of the quality of education, and responsibility for the quality of training will shift from the state/universities to students. The critical shortcomings of online education are the low degree of readiness of the digital infrastructure, the lack of a mechanism for identifying and monitoring the work of students, information security problems, and the lack of trust in such training of the population. The massive use of online education creates a number of risks for the country, the most critical of which is the destruction of the higher education system and a drop in the effectiveness of personnel training. The consequences of this risk realization are not compensated by any possible budget savings.


Author(s):  
Robert B. Archibald ◽  
David H. Feldman

This book evaluates the threats—real and perceived—that American colleges and universities must confront over the next thirty years. Those threats include rising costs endemic to personal services like higher education, growing income inequality in the United States that affects how much families can pay, demographic changes that will affect demand, and labor market changes that could affect the value of a degree. The book also evaluates changing patterns of state and federal support for higher education, and new digital technologies rippling through the entire economy. Although there will be great challenges ahead for America’s complex mix of colleges and universities, this book’s analysis is an antidote to the language of crisis that dominates contemporary public discourse. The bundle of services that four-year colleges and universities provide likely will retain their value for the traditional age range of college students. The division between in-person education for most younger students and online coursework for older and returning students appears quite stable. This book provides a view that is less pessimistic about the present, but more worried about the future. The diverse American system of four-year institutions is resilient and adaptable. But the threats this book identifies will weigh most heavily on the schools that disproportionately serve America’s most at-risk students. The future could cement in place a bifurcated higher education system, one for the children of privilege and great potential and one for the riskier social investment in the children of disadvantage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Schiffman ◽  
Karen Vignare ◽  
Christine Geith

Using a unique item included for the first time in the Sloan Consortium’s 2006 national survey of online learning, the authors analyze the reasons why higher-education institutions engage in online learning. Nine reasons are explored from contributing to extension efforts to returning a surplus. Eight of the nine reasons are found to vary in importance depending on the type of institution. Significant differences were found for associate-level institutions, for-profit institutions and large-enrollment institutions. The authors examine the findings for access and quality themes.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Huu Cuong ◽  
Le My Phong

Distance and online education are popular training modes in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and open education. Accreditation is one of the approaches that many countries across the world have implemented to assure the quality of higher education, including distance learning programs. This study investigates the rationale and future directions for quality assurance and accreditation of distance education programs in Vietnam. First, the paper presents concepts of distance education, and quality assurance and accreditation of distance education. Second, the research reviews experiences of implementing quality assurance and accreditation for distance education from several countries in the world. Next, the paper analyses the rationale for conducting accreditation of distance education programs in our country. Finally, the study proposes three groups of recommendations for the national quality assurance organization, accreditation agencies and higher education institutions to be able to implement the quality assurance and accreditation of distance education in Vietnam successfully. Keywords Quality assurance; Accreditation; Distance education; Online learning; Higher education References [1] UNESCO, Distance education in Asia and the Pacific: country papers, Volume III (Singapore - Vietnam), 2009. www.unesco.org/education/pdf/53-23c.pdf.[2] UNESCO, Open and distance learning: trends, policy and strategy considerations, 2002. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001284/128463e.pdf.[3] Owusu-Boampong, A. & Holmberg, C., Distance education in European higher education – the potential, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, International Council for Open and Distance Education and Study Portals B.V, 2015.[4] Australian University, Distance learning Australia, 2018. http://www.australianuniversities.com.au/distance-learning/.[5] Darojat, O., Nilson, M. & Kaufman, D., Quality assurance in Asian open and distance learning: policies and implementation, Journal of Learning for Development, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2015) 1. [6] Jung, I. & Latchem, C., Quality assurance and accreditation in distance education and e-learning: models, policies and research, Routledge, London, 2012.[7] Wang, Qi., Quality assurance - best practices for assessing online programs, International Journal on Elearning, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2006) 265. [8] Friedman, J., 10 facts about accreditation in online degree programs, U.S.News & World Report, February 9, 2017. https://www.usnews.com.[9] U.S. Department of Education., Accrediting agencies recognized for distance education and correspondence education, 2018. https://www2.ed.gov. [10] The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-learning (ACODE), Benchmarks for technology enhanced learning, ACODE, Canberra, 2014.[11] Bollaert, L., NVAO’s accreditation of online education in a nutshell, 2015. https://www.nvao.net.[12] Henderikx, P. & Ubachs, G., Quality assurance and accreditation of online and distance higher education, 2017. https://www.unic.ac.cy.[13] Stella A. & Gnanam, A., Quality assurance in distance education: The challenges to be addressed, Higher Education, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2004) 143.[14] Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA), Code of practices for open and distance learning, MQA, Kuala Lumpur, 2013.[15] COL, DEMP & UNESCO, Quality assurance toolkit for distance higher education institutions and programmes, COL, Vancouver, 2009.[16] Vietnamnet, Mở đào tạo từ xa sẽ không cần cấp phép, 2017. http://vietnamnet.vn. [17] Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Quality assurance of online learning: discussion paper, TEQSA, Melbourne, 2017. [18] Nhân dân Điện tử, Phát triển đào tạo từ xa đúng hướng, 2017. http://www.nhandan.com.vn.[19] Nguyễn Hữu Cương, Một số kết quả đạt được của kiểm định chất lượng giáo dục đại học Việt Nam và hướng triển khai trong tương lai, Tạp chí Quản lý giáo dục, Tập 9 Số 8 (2017) 7.[20] Cục QLCL - Bộ GD-ĐT, Danh sách các CSGD đại học; các trường cao đẳng, trung cấp sư phạm, đã hoàn thành báo cáo tự đánh giá, được kiểm định, 2018 (dữ liệu cập nhật đến ngày 31/8/2018).[21] Cục QLCL - Bộ GD-ĐT, Danh sách các chương trình đào tạo được đánh giá/công nhận, 2018 (dữ liệu cập nhật đến ngày 31/8/2018).


Author(s):  
Omar Mohamed Ali Albakri ◽  
Abubakar Albakri

Higher education has been shifting to learning management systems (LMS) for decades. Some universities, like the Open University, have managed to gain international recognition by providing undergraduate degrees to students in different countries. However, in moments of emergency and international disruption higher education institutions need to adapt at unprecedented speed. This chapter focuses on the use of technology in moments of extreme internationalised interference. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a ground for change, students enrolled in presential courses in Spain, Malta, and the United Kingdom were interviewed in order to understand how they are coping with having contact with their academic life exclusively online. The students' impressions, LMS software, and results (assignments and exams) were also discussed. Finally, the chapter analyses the solutions provided by lecturers and students.


Author(s):  
Jane Lund ◽  
Carolyn Snell

Research into the design, delivery, support, and administration of Online Distance Learning (ODL) programmes in higher education is developing but still nascent with theories and discourses from many areas of traditional education being examined and developed to address the particular affordances of online education. Whilst debate continues about the procurement of and best application of educational technologies and systems, one aspect of the debate seems clear, that the technology and content alone is not “e-learning.” Directing someone to an online repository does not mean learning will necessarily take place. Whilst the technology and the content are essential, both are important only insofar as the affordances they provide for learning to take place. Using empirical evidence, this chapter argues that the actions of the tutor are therefore pivotal in an educational environment where the learning process is directed at more than simply accessing information.


Author(s):  
Aleksandrs Skvorcovs ◽  
Tatjana Titareva ◽  
Graurs Igors

The European Union (EC-JRC, 2010), has stressed that higher education must change and adapt to economic and social needs, that institutional change is essential to educational innovation, and that information and communication technologies (ICT) must form part of the teaching and learning process. The second international challenge is to encourage international cooperation between institutions in order to share knowledge across borders and facilitate collaboration (Morin, 2009) and post-cosmopolitan citizenship (Dobson and Bell, 2006). The dramatic decrease of the number of students in Latvia in the last 10 years by 64% and disproportionally high number of HE institutions, makes Latvia’s Government, the Ministry of Education and Science and higher education institutions to look for new ways to structure and optimize the processes in the higher education sector. The main research question of this paper is: the general development trends of the main drivers for attracting more students into the tertiary education sector in Latvia by means of online education and internationalization. The relevance of the research: the authors review the intersections of the distance learning and internationalization as the optimal solutions for the critical situation in the Latvian higher education sector with lack of students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Osman Ferda Beytekin

The purpose of this qualitative study was to get a better understanding of faculty members' views on the future of higher education by their first-time online teaching experiences during the Fall 2021 academic semester, which was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the outbreak's rapid and widespread dissemination, it created a unique phenomenon that had a significant impact on faculty members who had no prior experience teaching courses entirely online. In order to conduct this qualitative research, purposive sampling was used to choose ten faculty members from a variety of disciplines who had at least ten years of experience teaching in a traditional classroom setting at a public university in Izmir, Turkey. Faculty members were asked about the future of higher education in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from that, each faculty member was asked to discuss how the mandatory shift to online education altered their teaching style and how institutional help impacted their experiences throughout the pandemic. As a consequence of their observations and statements of their perspectives on events they witnessed and personally experienced, the key issue of "transformation of higher education with hybrid perspective" developed as a central theme. The data analysis revealed the following subthemes: "educators on the internet," "sustain and evolve," and "university support". These findings may be applied in a variety of contexts, including educational leadership and the design of hybrid and online courses, among other applications in higher education.


Author(s):  
A. Rastrygina ◽  
Z. Koloskova

The article highlights the issues related to the need of introducing online education as an innovative form of learning in the post-COVID educational space of pedagogical educational establishments, mastering which becomes the basis for the development of specific elements of digital competence of future specialists. It was stated that in finding ways to solve problems in the system of pedagogical higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its probable continuation over a long period, scientists stressed the need to respond immediately to new circumstances and introduce distance learning using various web servers, platforms and resources, and social networks. Given the analysis of scientific sources and the results of expert verification of the feasibility of using digital assistive devices during the transition to distance learning related to quarantine measures, it is confirmed that most scientists from the world-leading universities have confirmed the effectiveness of combining common forms of offline learning with distance learning on the online platform and supported the introduction of blended learning in the post-COVID educational space of higher education institutions. The use of online learning in the post-COVID educational space of pedagogical institutions of higher education, regardless of the format of its receiving (online or offline), is standardized at the national level and confirmed in the documents of the State Education Quality Service of Ukraine. The content and forms of the distantly conducted classes are presented in the example of art subjects. Not only does it cause the change of teaching technologies in the art educational space of higher education institutions, but it also becomes an essential factor in improving the professional culture of a modern music teacher.


Author(s):  
D. A. Ashirbekova ◽  
G. Zh. Nurmukhanova

This article examines the process of transition of the higher education system to distance learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the uniform transition to distance learning, higher education institutions differ in the strategy of its organization. As a result, an analysis was made of the country's higher educational institutions and the measures they have taken to transfer teachers and students to online education. The analysis highlighted a number of challenges faced by higher education institutions during the transition to a new format of distance learning, including the lack of infrastructure and material and technical base, difficulties in adapting training materials to the new format, lack of staff qualifications and experience of remote work. Taking into account the above problems, the pandemic showed the need for additional budgetary funds for the development of a digital educational environment, professional development of the teaching staff, as well as for the creation of jobs at universities for students who lost their jobs during the crisis, which allowed them to pay for tuition and related costs. Thus, given all the abovementioned difficulties in the transition to distance learning, for the full functioning of higher education institutions and to prevent a potential increase in unemployment, an increase in costs is necessary. This article also discusses proposals on the need to make appropriate changes in management and financial models in the field of education.


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